Bangor-area emergency shelters, alongside dozens of homeless shelters across Maine, are advocating for a proposed bill that would more than double the funding the facilities receive from the state.
The Legislature’s Committee on Housing and Economic Development on Tuesday held a public hearing on the proposed bill, LD 698: An Act to Sustain Emergency Homeless Shelters in Maine. More than a dozen people spoke during the bill’s hearing, all of whom advocated for its passage.
The bill, presented by Sen. Rachel Talbot Ross, D-Cumberland, would provide an additional $5 million in ongoing funds to shelters in Maine. If passed, it would raise the amount of money the state gives Maine’s shelters to cover the cost of operating one bed for one night from $7 to $18.
The cost of running a shelter in Maine varies depending on location and type, but a recent study by MaineHousing found it costs an average of $102 to operate a shelter bed for one night in Maine, amounting to $37,312.12 annually. This leaves emergency shelters to fill funding gaps with fundraising, grants and municipal aid.
“This bill won’t make operating an emergency shelter profitable or even break even, but it will help Maine’s shelters be more financially sustainable,” Andrew Lardie, executive director of Brunswick-based Tedford Housing, said in a statement.
Though the funding boost wouldn’t come close to covering the total cost of operating a shelter in Maine, it would be a lifeline for some shelters that are teetering on the edge of closing due to large funding deficits, advocates for the bill said. Shelters closing or reducing their capacity would burden other local shelters, emergency rooms and law enforcement and lead to the formation of new encampments.
The state hasn’t increased the amount of funding it gives shelters since 2016, according to Preble Street, a Portland-based nonprofit that runs five emergency shelters in Maine, including the Hope House Health and Living Center in Bangor. Meanwhile, the cost to operate those facilities and the need for shelter beds grew.
A shelter bed at the Bangor Area Homeless Shelter costs $73 per day to operate, and the shelter has a $1.1 million annual budget, according to Boyd Kronholm, the shelter’s director.
Most of the shelter’s funding gap is filled by private donations, which Kronholm said is stressful due to inflation and wage increase coupled with the unpredictability of donations.
The shelter’s budget for next year has a roughly $60,000 shortfall, Kronholm said. While the shelter is not at risk of closing, it may need to consider reducing some of its services to make ends meet if funding from the state doesn’t increase.
The Bangor Area Homeless Shelter has 38 beds, but can lay an additional five mats in the common room during the winter. Of those, 32 to 38 beds are occupied on an average night, Kronholm said.
With the number of people filling local shelters and warming centers or sleeping outside on an average night, Kronholm said it’s clear the number of people grappling with homelessness has risen in recent years.
That increase, Kronholm believes, is due to the skyrocketing cost of renting an apartment that housing vouchers don’t match. This results in people staying homeless for longer periods of time.
While the Bangor Area Homeless Shelter is facing a budget deficit, the situation is much more dire for other shelters in the state that are at risk of cutting staff, reducing their hours or closing altogether if the bill doesn’t pass, Kronholm said.
“With the number of people experiencing homelessness in the state of Maine at this time, any shelter beds lost would ripple throughout the state,” Kronholm said.
Partners for Peace, which operates a 17-bed emergency shelter in Bangor for survivors of domestic violence and their children, has had to cut two positions since the pandemic to avoid a funding deficit, said Amanda Cost, executive director of Partners for Peace.
That cut, Cost said, left the shelter with only four employees and hindered the organization’s ability to meet the needs of the people staying in the shelter.
“If we continue to operate at the level we are without an increase in funds, we’re going to have to make more difficult choices about what our programs look like,” Cost said. “That will affect the people staying with us, but will also affect the systems that rely on us.”
A bed at Partners for Peace costs $65 every day to operate, but the organization receives only $7 per bed per night from the state, Cost said.
In addition to giving people who have experienced domestic violence a safe place to stay, Partners for Peace provides food, toiletries, support groups, a case manager and a housing navigator who helps them search for permanent housing. The organization can also offer legal support if a resident needs a protection order.
Boosting the amount of funding Maine’s shelters receive would support a service that cares for people who are going through the most difficult times of their lives, Cost said.
“It would mean a lot to people who are experiencing homelessness to know their state sees them, hears them and believes that they have the right to be safe and housed,” Cost said.